The George W. Bush Presidential Library, overseen by the George W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation, is to be built at Southern Methodist University, located in University Park, Texas, an enclave of Dallas. Organizers are hoping for a 2009 groundbreaking on the Robert A.M. Stern-designed complex, which will include a museum as well as a conservative public policy institute independent of the university.
SMU - long considered the most likely candidate for the library - was officially announced as its site in February 2008; first lady Laura Bush finished her undergraduate degree at the school and is one of its trustees. The university's competition for the complex drew heated opposition from some faculty, staff, students and Methodists, in part because of the possibility of a partisan policy institute on campus.